At the close of a public process sponsored by Citizens for a Liveable Northgate ... a series of revelations were made apparent, and at a great price. Neighborhood planning and stewardship groups around the city should take note of these and prepare to do battle as they embark on the stewardship that will supposedly make the visions for their urban centers a reality.

1. The greatest threat to communities and their ability to create the environment and lifestyle they desire are not the street gangs, radical politicians or special interest groups. The big corporations, who have through the sheer power of their amassed capital, exert upon us, like the feudal lords of long ago, their will and what they think is best for themselves...

2. The City as a whole neither shares the visions of its communities, nor has any particular vision of its own, and therefore is unlikely to dedicate many resources toward implementation of neighborhood plans...

3. There is no one to stand with communities in their struggle to have something different than what the big corporations want...

4. There are many people who have grown accustomed over the years to an addiction of consumerism. They think three or four grocery stores and drugstores all within a few blocks of each other is a blessing and that huge cinema complexes and huge malls are even better...

As neighborhood planning groups turn now to a new stewardship role, it is time for a new kind of local democracy and involvement by our communities that harkens back to the processes used in the communities of our forefathers. It should be a process that provides those who are living in a neighborhood the venue and facilitation for negotiating together among themselves as well as with government and commercial entitites to meet all the needs of a community, not just retail and dining...

Without a government that realizes the value of, or is unwilling to protect, multi-functional, productive and working landscapes that integrate ecology, people and economy, what will result are nondescript, uncharacteristic, soulless habitats that keep people blinded to a more sustainable way of life without hope for a better future. It shows that strong and creative solutions are needed soon, or we will lose claim to our neighborhood plans and our visions for a better, more integrated future.

-CHERYL KLINKER,

Lake City